NORFOLK, Va. — Norfolk's Booker T. Washington High School is celebrating its 102nd anniversary this Black History Month.
To mark the occasion, several former students spoke with 13News Now about the school’s history, its hardships, triumphs, and future outlook.
HISTORY
Dr. Vivian Monroe-Hester graduated from Booker T. Washington High School in 1965 and is a local wealth of knowledge.
As she tells it, the school began as Mission College when a group of religious women decided to help educate African-American children after the Civil War.
After the turn of the century, David Gilbert Jacox wanted to expand to a full high school and helped transform the school into what it is today. In 1917, Booker T. Washington High School became Virginia’s first accredited public high school for African Americans.
The original building, which lacked a cafeteria, was nicknamed “the factory” because of its appearance. Though lacking in aesthetics, the school still had top-notch educators.
"The teachers were excellent in preparing the students for the world,” Dr. Monroe-Hester said. “We were always taught that we had to be better."
In 1939, Science teacher Aline Black went to court to try and gain equal pay for African-American teachers. According to historic documents, Black was earning $1,045 annually whereas white teachers in the high schools teaching the same chemistry science class were paid $2,100.
Black lost her job during the process but her fight paid off. The Supreme Court in 1940 upheld a lower court ruling that teacher salaries fell under 14th Amendment protection. Black was rehired at Booker T. Washington High School and African American teachers received equal pay.
In 1949, the school’s band performed in the inauguration parade for President Harry S. Truman.
During the 60s and 70s, Dr. Monroe-Hester said students participated in several marches at City Hall to protest the city’s attempt to change the school name and move locations.
"To now take our name and move our heritage away from us and at that time, there were other black high schools in the state of Virginia that lost their heritage because they turned them into elementary schools or tore them down or made them administrative buildings and we did not want that to happen to Booker T. Washington High School,” Dr. Monroe-Hester said.
Students moved into today’s present-day building in 1974, located at 111 Park Avenue.
"As of today, we have Booker T. Washington High School in Norfolk and Norcom High School in Portsmouth. Out of all the cities, we are the only two African-American high schools left in the state of Virginia,” Dr. Monroe-Hester said.
Dr. Monroe-Hester said she and other alumni are still fighting to improve the school’s quality of education while trying to maintain its history and place in the Norfolk community.
"We're working towards keeping it a central part of Norfolk's community and of course, the black community,” said Glynis Mason, a 1972 graduate.
Dr. Monroe-Hester said she takes issue with the school being considered a School of the Arts. She said that doesn’t make it easy for students when marketing themselves for the workforce.
"We've been talking with leaders in the city, and the proposal has been that we move to a CTE curriculum which will bring in technology, the arts, the mathematics, the science,” she said.
Recently, the state awarded Booker T. Washington High School a historic highway marker.
"Our biggest struggle is still to maintain our history, maintain our legacy that we had and support of the city is what we continue to ask for, the city and the school board,” Dr. Monroe-Hester said.
CELEBRATION
The school will celebrate its 102nd anniversary February 23 from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Booker T. Washington High School and later that evening from 6 to 9 p.m. at the Half Moone at Nauticus.